The Colony
by Disturbed Gwendolyn
Summary: On a routine away mission, Seven and the Captain disappear without a trace. They have been taken to The Colony, where they endure a daily fight for survival and each other in a game orchestrated by the mysterious species known as the Varlet. Femslash, J/7. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Seven's Letter

**Authors Note: I know I still have another story unfinished but this idea came to me the other day and I knew I had to write it down. I would appreciate it if people could let me know whether they like the idea of this story as I'm in two minds about trying it (I will finish my other story when I get myself out of the corner I've written myself into). I want this to be a dark story not a light-hearted romance. So please let me know if you are interested :) This is just the prologue from Sevens point of view. The other chapters will be 3rd person (or not depending on reviews/comments etc). xsjx**

* * *

Prologue – Sevens letter to the crew

Love. A word I never thought I would understand again. Of course my memory of understanding it the first time round was disjointed and, for want of a better word, fuzzy. The love I had felt for my parents before my assimilation into the Hive mind was pure and innocent. It was that certain kind of love that only occurs between parent and child. I have since learned that there are different types of love. To love another human in a way that consumes your every thought, your every breath and your every second of existence is not the same as loving ones parents in that warm, safe way. The second kind of love was ubiquitous in its attack on your body and mind and it is exciting and terrifying all at the same time. I understand all of this now and this is down to one woman: Captain Kathryn Janeway.

She severed me from the collective and forced me to start again in terms of my development as a human rather than as a borg drone. I owe her everything and yet nothing as I consider all debts to have been paid in full. She was pivotal in creating the woman I am today though reflecting on it now maybe I would have been better off not being the person she has sculpted. Well, her and the Doctor. Since coming back to Voyager I find myself unable to complete a full regeneration cycle; my thoughts confused and flecked with a raw emotion that fades quickly upon my 'waking'. Something in my mind, maybe a remnant of the Captains influence on me, tells me that to ease this I must tell our story; I owe it to her to admit the truth to her crew.

Kathryn Janeway taught me how to love and in doing so taught me about experiencing anger, sorrow and hatred. You wanted to know what happened down there on The Colony and I'm finally ready to tell you,

Seven of nine, tertiary adjunct to unimatrix zero one.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N:- The following chapters are Sevens POV but I decided to write them as if they were happening in real-time rather than in letter format as I thought this would add more depth. Please review if you have the time. Thank you for reading :)**

The Colony – Chapter 1

Cargo Bay 2 was bigger than the brig and as such there was more room for me to pace the perimeter restlessly. It was bigger, but it was an equally effective prison. The Captain had informed me that I would remain in cargo bay 2 until she could trust that I would not contact the collective. I found myself hoping that she would be rapid with her decision to trust me, as being severed from the collective and losing their voices was disturbing. The one remaining voice, my own consciousness, seemed to echo in my mind. I was not used to being alone; it was difficult to cope with and the hours in cargo bay 2 did not pass quickly. Trying to find ways to occupy my mind I had requested to help Lieutenant Torres attempt to modify Voyager to allow transwarp travel. My request for a project had been denied by the Lieutenant, leaving me confined to the cargo bay.

My thoughts turned frequently to Captain Janeway. She had forced me to become one of them, stripping me of my identity and making me one. One mind, one voice, one person. She was responsible for making me….unique. At times this caused a great anger in me, yet sometimes I found myself wondering what it might be like to explore this new lifestyle. The silence of the cargo bay however was not conducive for my adaption to this new life.

The door to my prison opened suddenly and I stopped pacing as Captain Janeway entered. I inclined my head in greeting and stood to attention as she approached, she stopped her amble once she was within a metre's radius of me. I found her to be small in stature and a previous assessment of her physical capabilities determined that I would easily defeat her in a physical conflict, yet there was something about her that commanded my respect. I remained silent, waiting for her to speak first.

'Seven, I understand that you have expressed a desire to contribute to the ship?' Her eyes met mine, waiting for my answer, ready to search for any sign that I was attempting to mislead her; she did not yet believe my good intentions were true.

'Yes, Captain. I am struggling to adjust to being alone and I wish to alleviate this by interacting with other members of the crew.' I replied, trying to convey my honesty. I was not certain why it was the case but it was important to me that she believed me.

'I appreciate your offer Seven but I'm afraid I'm not ready to allow you free access to the ships systems just yet. I need to be sure that you won't try and contact the borg as that could have dire consequences for my crew.'

'Captain, I can assure you that-' She held up a hand silencing me.

'I wasn't finished. I have a proposal for you. Our sensors have picked up the presence of a destroyed borg vessel a few lightyears from here. It may have components that can be salvaged and used later to enhance our ship. We will take a shuttle to investigate while Voyager meets the L'dar to trade for dilithium and we'll rendezvous with them when we are done. How does that sound?'

'I find that arrangement acceptable.' I responded. Her proposal was a fair one and it was a stepping stone to more responsibility, I would have been foolish to not accept. However, I felt a small tendril of anger stir within me as it was apparent to me that our excursion was a test of my ability to be trusted. She was going to give me access to a Borg vessel to check my intentions regarding re-joining the collective. I had to admire her cunning but I didn't have to like it.

The Captain smiled at me and rested her right hand on my left shoulder, squeezing gently. 'Excellent, shall we proceed?' Her hand left my shoulder to gesture towards the door. I walked to the door then through it, leaving my prison for the first time since being stripped of my Borg exterior. There were two members of a security team outside the door and they escorted us to the shuttlebay, seeing us both on board the shuttlecraft.

Once we were on our way towards the abandoned borg vessel I turned to Captain Janeway as aspects of her behaviour had puzzled me.

'Captain, Why did you have security escort us to the shuttle?' She turned to face me, her expression a mix of confusion and surprise.

'What do you mean?'

'You do not trust me not to hurt you on the way from cargo bay two to the shuttlebay. Yet you are willing to spend time alone in a confined space with me. What makes you so certain I won't kill you now? You have no one to help you.' Anger manifested itself in my voice. Due to the fact that I wasn't trusted to walk from one part of the ship to another yet they wanted my help for possible ship upgrades.

'Seven, trust is something that has to be earned in our society. Once you have proven yourself, you'll enjoy the same freedom as any other member of my crew.' She leaned in close to my face, her eyes locked with my own. 'I've no doubt that you think you could kill me Seven, but you would be arrogant to assume that I haven't got a few tricks up my sleeve.' Her tone was mildly threatening. I stared defiantly back at her for several seconds then begrudgingly acquiesced, turning back to my console.

'And if I fail to earn this trust?'

'Then you can spend the rest of our journey in cargo bay 2.' She paused, composing herself. 'You have a chance to be a part of this crew Seven. A chance to explore your humanity, don't waste it. I know it feels strange to you now but you are human and the borg took that away from you. All I'm doing is giving you a chance to experience what you were denied. Try it; I've got a feeling you might just like it.' She smiled warmly at me. 'Now let's see what our scanners have picked up.' She became focussed on her console readouts.

I returned to my own readouts, thinking her words over in my mind with my one voice. We sat in silence as we travelled to the Borg sphere wreck. Every four minutes my retinal node scanned my readouts for updated sensor data. My 13th check yielded an anomalous reading situated 500m to our port side. I frowned; sensors could not positively identify the origin nor the exact specifications of the object.

"Captain, our sensors have detected an object."

"What sort of object?" She glanced at me curiously.

"I do not know. It is surrounded by a high level of ionising radiation that our sensors are failing to penetrate effectively. The radiation will block any further scans."

"Is it stationary?"

"Yes, Captain." Her expression became one of puzzlement and she turned in her chair to lean over to read my console. Her arm came to rest along the back of my own chair. The sweet scent of lavender was detected by my olfactory system, in relation to her close proximity. It was not unpleasant and I found myself wondering briefly what I smelled like to her.

"It feels like a vessel of some kind to me Seven and I don't like being observed silently. I'm hailing on all frequencies." She moved away, keying in the commands and the scent of lavender retracted.

"You are most astute Captain." A sing-song male voice sounded from the aft compartment of the shuttle. In perfect synchronicity we spun around and stood to face our intruder. The Captains phaser was pointed directly at our unwanted guest's chest. I had not been given a weapon so instead I surveyed our intruder. He was a bi-pedal humanoid and was tall, 6ft 5, with superb muscle definition. His eyes told of a great intelligence and the slight discolouring of some of his hair implied an age related wisdom came along with it. His skin had a delicate light gray hue. His attire consisted of a type of all covering black body armor that appeared to be both light and durable and boots that looked military in origin.

"Computer, erect a level 5 forcefield around the aft compartment." She barked harshly, her face a portrait of anger. "Who are you? How did you get on board this vessel?"

"Kathryn please, I think you'll find your questions are answered soon enough. Can we drop the procedure?" He pointed a hand to her phaser dismissively. "I'm a little behind schedule."

"I don't know who you think you are but you are on board my vessel and I'm fond of procedures, so if you don't mind I think I'll hang onto this. Oh and it's Captain Janeway not Kathryn." Her eyes sparked in a way that I had become very accustomed to despite our limited time of knowing each other.

Our visitor laughed throatily, seemingly delighted by the Captains words. I did not understand his attitude, it seemed too confident and I felt a strange sensation in my stomach informing me that I appeared to be ill at ease.

"Of course it is. Forgive me Captain but I meant what I said about being behind schedule. I haven't got time for this." He walked towards where the forcefield sealed the aft compartment off from us, then pushed himself through, the barrier collapsing in on itself. He raised his palms up towards us.

"Sweet dreams, ladies."

My vision blurred and I saw the fuzzy outline of the Captain fall to the floor as I felt myself sink to my knees. The edges of my view became black but the darkness soon spread to my central vision and then there was nothing.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N:- So here's the next chapter, hope people like it. This is the first time I've written in the first person and also the first time I've written anything as non-fluffy as this therefore any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :)**

* * *

I roused from my slumber slowly. At first only my auditory system was functioning but the data it was processing seemed hazy and inaccurate. I could hear running water and distorted voices, though couldn't understand any of the words spoken. As more senses returned I became aware of a weight resting on my left side and an earthy smell with a metallic edge and the hint of lavender. A harsh throbbing pain suddenly burst into existence at the back of my neck and I moved my right hand to investigate, keeping my eyes closed. Something had been implanted into the dermal tissue at the top of my spine. It was small and round or spherical in shape. I opened my eyes to a blurred dark environment and blinked to bring it into focus. After a few attempts my vision returned, not quite to its former Borg acuity but enough to allow me to see my surroundings.

Captain Janeway's unconscious form was huddled against the left side of my body and one of her hands rested on my stomach. I studied her peaceful features and smiled; she was a far cry from her formidable Captain persona when she was asleep. Her hair had been partially loosened during the incident on the shuttlecraft and a few stray strands had fallen over her face. Before I knew what I was doing my hand had moved to tuck these strands behind her ear and in doing so my fingertips grazed the side of her face. I was surprised to find that her skin was remarkably smooth. I felt a sudden wave of warmth spread over my body and moved hurriedly backwards in surprise. She let out a small moan and her eyes fluttered open and met mine in a questioning gaze.

"Captain." I said in greeting, unsure of whether she was aware I had touched her face. It didn't seem appropriate to ask.

"Seven." She replied, still groggy from sleep. I watched as her fingers traced the spot I had touched a moment ago, a confused expression appearing briefly on her face before she shook it off. "Are you alright?" She asked as she sat up and shuffled her body away from me.

"The base of my neck throbs slightly Captain. Other than that I find myself to be in an acceptable condition." I glanced around at our surroundings for the first time. We were in a rectangular cell with 3 stone walls and the entrance which was made up of metal bars. Across the corridor from us was another cell occupied by two aliens from a species I had never encountered before. Our cell was small, dark and damp with an earthen floor. The only light was coming from the right of the corridor. I assumed there was a window there.

"Yes, my neck hurts too." She muttered more to herself than to me. She reached up to the back of her neck with her hand mimicking what I had done only minutes before her. "Let me have a look." She gestured to me to turn around. I complied and moved so my back was facing her. I felt her cool fingers trace the base of my neck, pressing lightly at the object buried into my skin.

"It's not too deeply implanted Seven. I could try to remove it so we can get a proper look." Her tone was questioning, seeking my permission. I felt a flash of anger at her presumption that I was still some sort of scientific experiment. Why should I be constantly poked and prodded? I jerked away from her and turned around.

"I think I've undergone enough medical procedures at your insistence Captain." I stared at her coldly, memories of my body in various stages of being stripped of its Borg exterior surfacing in my mind. She had had no right. Her face studied mine intently, reading my anger. An emotion I didn't recognise resided fleetingly on her features before she nodded and turned around, pulling her hair to the side to give me access.

I leaned in close behind her and inspected her neck, anger still bubbling deep within me. She was right, the device wasn't very deep. It was grey and circular, approximately 5mm in diameter.

"I see it." I stated simply. "I need something sharp to create a laceration. May I use a hairpin?" She nodded her consent. I removed one of the metal hair pins holding my hair in place.

"This may hurt."

I placed my left hand on her neck using my fingers to stretch out the skin around the device and readied the pin in my right hand.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." An unfamiliar male voice called loudly.

"They won't be very happy." Another voice, female this time chimed in. The two aliens opposite us had moved close to their bars and were watching us.

The Captain and I stood making our way to the front of our cell. From this distance, despite the relatively dark conditions we could see that their skin was a dark blood red colour and their eyes a muddy brown.

"Why not?" The Captain asked, unperturbed by their appearance.

"You'll be punished." Came the simple reply. The aliens' companion nodded furiously in agreement. "I'm Rohin by the way and this is my sister Kerra."

"Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. This is Seven of Nine, a member of my crew." I was gestured towards. "I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with your species."

"We are Lodarian. We are a small species inhabiting 3 planets including our homeworld Lodar and you?"

"We are human." Janeway answered and this infuriated me. I was not human. My genetic make-up was not what defined me.

"I am not human," I spoke loudly. "I am Borg." I received a puzzled look from Rohin and Kerra and what I supposed was meant to be a withering glare from Captain Janeway.

"But they have two of each species." Rohin said confused.

"You look the same." Added Kerra. "Well, except for those metal bits."

"I may look the same as Captain Janeway because genetically I am human but I was a Borg Drone for most of my life. I possess advanced attributes that make me more than just a human and I have access to the entire knowledge of the Collective."

"Seven now is not the time." She put her hand on my bicep. Her touch was firm. I stopped. "What do you mean by they have two of each species and who are 'they'?" Rohin opened his mouth to reply but Kerra beat him to it.

"The Varlet. They are a species driven by a need for scientific knowledge and research. They are highly advanced genetic engineers every few months they take samples from four species and test them. The most favourable sample pair is harvested for their DNA which is then integrated into the Varlet species. Some say that-"

"Kerra, be careful…" Rohin interrupted his sibling and glanced up at the ceiling.

"Rohin, we're dead either way." She snapped taking a breath before continuing in the same calm tone. "Some say that the decades of experimentation have made the Varlet…not quite right." She tapped the side of her head alluding to mental instability. "They say that the tests before the genetic extraction are not actually necessary. The Varlet merely use the tests as part of some twisted form of entertainment."

"But we don't know that as fact." Rohin added firmly, directing a stern look at Kerra. The expression on Kerra's face suggested she thought otherwise.

"Do you know of a way out?" asked Janeway. Her demeanour and steely glint to her eyes letting me know she didn't plan on waiting around to be tested. I had to admit, she was a very determined woman. Her desire and will to survive almost rivalled that of the Borg.

Rohin laughed mirthlessly. "There is no way out." He moved away from the bars to sit on the floor at the back of the cell he shared with his sister.

Kerra looked at us sadly and moved to sit next to him but not before whispering to us. "You're the last species to arrive. The tests will start soon."

The Captain turned to face me, releasing her hold on my arm.

"I don't know about you Seven but I don't plan on finding out what those tests entail. We need options."

"We are in a locked cell Captain. Our options for action are limited to choosing which wall we lean against and which bit of the floor we rest on."

"Have you tried the door?" She asked. I raised an eyebrow in scorn.

"It would be highly improbable that a species that takes the time to orchestrate a series of test in order to genetically advance themselves would forget to lock the door of our cell."

The Captain pushed against the section of bars that was a hinged door. It didn't move. I smirked; oddly satisfied that it was indeed locked. Janeway let out a frustrated noise.

"Which part of the floor would you like Captain?" Fiery blue eyes locked with my own. She took the few steps to close the distance between us.

"You may not like being human Seven but let me tell you something about your species. We are resilient. Humans have survived epidemics, wars and god knows what else to produce a civilisation that now travels the galaxy. My ancestors have survived three world wars, the black death, wars with other species and I'll be damned if I'm going to die because of some species' twisted idea that stealing DNA from others is acceptable. You may think that you are better than humanity, that your Borg past makes you strong but I don't. I think your reluctance to accept and adapt to who you are will make you weak."

"What gives you the right to decide who I am?" I retorted raising my voice. "You don't know anything about who I am. Humanity, Captain, makes you weak. You are controlled by your emotions and as such they will get us killed."

"Emotions aren't a weakness Seven. Emotions can be strong enough to drive people to succeed in extreme situations." The anger was gone from her voice, replaced by a pitying, frustrated undertone.

"You are wrong. You were driven by your emotions and human morals to severe me from where I belonged. All you succeeded in doing was ostracising me from two species and trapping us here. If you hadn't removed me from my home and made me a part of your crew you wouldn't have been testing my loyalty and we wouldn't be sat in this cell." I said coldly. "Humanity is flawed."

We sat in silence, avoiding each other's gaze and leaning against opposite walls for 3.25 hours. My mind was overwhelmed with hatred and anger but not just at the woman sitting across from me. I found myself angry at the Collective for not retrieving me. I had been abandoned by my species and forced into one I didn't understand. I now didn't fit into either species and the idea of being truly alone scared me much more than being trapped in a cell ever could.

"Seven." The Captain began hesitantly. "I'm sorry." I looked up, meeting her gaze. "If I hadn't insisted on trying to bond with you in that shuttle we wouldn't be where we are now but you have to understand that I needed to see if you were ready to integrate into my crew. Evidently it would seem that you are not. You're still angry and I understand that the changes to your life are scary but I'm here to help you through that."

"My request to help your crew was genuine Captain. Being contained in the cargo bay was difficult. I miss the voices of the others and wanted a distraction but you cannot ignore that I am not a part of your crew. I am Borg."

"But you can be Seven. You can have friends and be part of the family…" The Captain paused and smiled ruefully as she glanced around our cell. "Once we get out here that is."

I opened my mouth to ask exactly how we were going to accomplish that but I was interrupted by a figure outside our cell. Like our unwelcome guest on the shuttlecraft the alien was dressed in black body armour and his eyes were cold.

"You!" He shouted pointing at Janeway. "Come with me." When she didn't move he drew a weapon from his belt. "Now!" She stood, casting a parting glance over her shoulder at me before she was coerced down the corridor. They also took Rohin and two other aliens from further down the corridor to my left.

After forty or fifty minutes I had stopped my restless pacing due to my wanting to know what was happening to the Captain. The waiting was frustrating me. As a Borg I had never had to wait for anything, there was always something to be doing and if there wasn't you were regenerating. I had just eased myself into a sitting position, propped up against the rear wall of the cell when the screaming started.


End file.
